Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Creating a moment of delight and excellence is what we all want to do when we set up our shops and make coffee for others. We also want to be delighted ourselves with the things we create and feel a sense of pride in each and every drink. Given the range of beverages we serve, that is pretty rare to find. But at least one place manages to strike this balance and has been doing so with singular foc...

Ever find yourself saying or hearing things like "Well, we go through it!" or "That was so crazy, welcome to Saturdays!" or "That's just the way it is here!" and many other phrases that draw attention to some very difficult situation of common happening on the bar? I certainly have and often these things are said with a ting of resignation by people in positions who may actually have the ability t...

The market place of coffee has seen rapid expansion of drive thrus and concepts focused on quick service. There is no doubt that customers appreciate speed when it comes to their coffee, better than speed though is speed plus service. These are the areas that today's guest is focused on delivering and continually enhancing in one of the country's fastest growing fast coffee concepts, Scooter's Cof...

Your staff need you to empower them. We like to think that we do this but many times it amounts to surface level communication and resourcing that is out of step with the day to day reality your staff live.  In today's Shift Break we will be talking about a few questions you can ask yourself that will help you truly empower you staff to succeed in their work and give you peace of mind in the proce...

From the first day you open the doors to your coffee shop one thing confronts you as a constant. Change.  In order to run a healthy business we have to embrace changing things in the cafe in order to provide for the needs of the people and the operations that support them. The problem we run into though is when we act as though change is a nusance and in response we either refuse to change things,...

This is not just a question asked by an over eager customer haunting the front entrance 10 minutes before you open the shop. It is also a question a customer asks to themselves when they encounter a lack luster, apathetic, and seemingly disengaged staff and space.  In today's Shift Break we are going to discuss how the way we p[resent ourselves and our cafes to the customers will convey a lot abou...

Coffee shops can have everything going for them on paper, but it is what is practiced in the day to day that determines whether you are successful. The truth is, mistakes happen. They are  unavoidable. Certain mistakes, though, have a greater likelihood of causing damage and ruining what we have built.  Today we will be talking about 5 things that I would consider some of the biggest mistakes that...

Sustainability can become more of a reality if we determine to use the tools at our disposal wisely. Perhaps even more so if the tools we use to roast evolve to better address the many concerns we have in the coffee industry. That is what Bellwether hopes offer. With their all electric, ventless coffee roaster their goal is to empower any business to roast incredible coffee in-house and do so in a...

You have heard this many times from managers and trainers alike. The idea being that if you want your work to go at a quick and consistent rate then you have to work with purpose.  On today's Shift break we will explore this idea and its validity to produce results we want to see on the coffee bar,  as well as how it can be used to produce results that we do not want to see.  Related episodes: Exc...

Creating opportunities for a wide group of people to experience coffee seems like a goal we have for just for consumers. As good of a goal as that is, it is equally and maybe even more important that this goal be applied to the people who work in coffee. Sadly it is all too convenient for us to default to the easiest and most familiar options for those opportunities and as a result we tend to find...

Welcome to another before and after edition of Founder Friday! Occasionally we sit down with an entrepreneur who is in the proccess of opening their shop to talk about what they are planning, hoping for, and doing right now. Then we come back a few months post launch and see how things went getting open and the lessons learned in the process.  I am thrilled to have been able to sit down with frequ...

It is all too easy to throw shade at your current state. It is also because of that easy path to bating yourself up that we find it difficult to find the good and even great things about where we are now in our career or business. On today's Shift Break we chat about the importance of loving where you are and how doing so is in fact the surest way to get to where you want to be in the future.  Rel...

Specialty coffee has its fair share of challenges across the supply chain. Solutions for those challenges are only as good as how they were created, namely, whether they were created collaboratively and with deference to those most impacted. In short, when we connect with each other in shared work toward common goals, we see progress.  Today we will be talking with someone whose work in telling th...

Welcome to part 2 of a live series of interviews conducted on the show floor of @coffeefestshow Los Angels and PNW in 2022! ​​Today we will be starting off by talking with ​Shad Baiz of @lamarzocco.usa A long time machine tech in the coffee industry, Shad grew up around espresso tech and has 2 decades worth of experience in serving the industry. Shad Baiz is now the Southwest Sales Director for La...

Welcome to part one of a live series of interviews conducted on the show floor of @coffeefestshow Los Angels and PNW in 2022!  In these interviews I sit down with stellar presenters and lecturers to dig deep into a range of relevant and important topics that will help make you and your coffee business better. ​​ ​​Today we will be talking with ​Manish Shah founder of Maya Tea. Manish Shah is the o...

You might have the perfect checklist, SOP, policy, and plan to apply to you current situation, it might even make things technically better, but if you are in the wrong place, position, or even career then those tools can easily become anchors that hold you down.  Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the need to make sure that you are in a place that is right for you, how tools can help y...

Why so serious? Coffee is a beverage that inspires a wide range of emotions but within the specialty industry in organizations, competitions, and businesses it has somehow moved away from one of the main emotions that draws so many to it. Happiness.  As we focus on improving our skills, pushing our craft, and solving problems, we also need to make room for fun, community, encouragement and create...

The ideal for cafe management is that you can raise up and promote a barista from within the shop. Unfortunately that cannot happen in all circumstances and shop that needs to delegate management is forced to seek outside help.  On today's Shift Break i wanted to cover a couple tips for cafes to consider when seeking to hire a manager form outside the shop. I believe these things will help make th...

Specialty coffee has been defined by a difference in quality and taste for a very long time. It is the central value that creates the markets that we currently operate in. The problem with this though is that taste as a value is, in the end, a subjective opinion. While quality, taste, and serving the desires of customer is always important, how we go about the practice of taste making will either...

Community is an incredibly important part of our industry. In fact it is the number one thing cited by professionals as the main reason they love coffee. Unifying around a common love is so powerful and helps us all become better...or does it?  On today's Shift Break we will be talking about how community can often be a way to avoid difficult parts of working together and keep things at a perpetua...

The journey of a barista often will lead to management. That particular role of leadership in the cafe comes with a host of changes that call on people to not only care for the quality and operations of the cafe, but the people themselves. Today we are going to be talking with Justin Duenne of Quills Coffee, a manager whose journey into the role is marked by a focus on team and the constant goal o...

It is Founder Friday and boy is this a wonderful conversation with a wonderful person. You simply cannot underestimate the importance of what an owner brings to a cafe and business. You as a leader have the opportunity to bring meaning, soul, and vision that creates electricity and momentum for your staff and customers. This is exactly what today's Founder Friday guest brings to her cafe and its p...

Even though it is one of the most objectively identifiable defects, the presence of tipping seems to continue to plagues roasters. With the end result ruining an otherwise perfectly roasted coffee, this largely preventable defect deserves special focus. In this episode of Rate of Rise we are going to be interviewing the great Rob Hoos who has dedicated a significant amount of his attention through...

I am helping my clients establish values all the time. Having a clear understanding of what is important to you and your business is incredibly important because it informs everything you put your hand to. For this show, and in my consulting work, I have my own set of values that have been developing over the course of my career.  On today's Shift Break we will be talking about the 4 core values t...

Being competitive in business is often thought of in the same vein as being aggressive, leading with fear, and creating an us vs them scenario that is antithetical to community. The reality is that while we need to be competitive in order to run successful businesses, we need not do so in a way that alienates.  In today's episode you and I will talk about seven way to be what I will call "Consciou...